On November 28, 1821, with the independence of Panama from Spain, the colonial era ends. This period began with the discovery of the isthmus in 1501 and lasted for 321 years. Our religion, our language and many folkloric customs remained as Hispanic heritage. And cities like Panama, Natá, La Villa de Los Santos. The Spanish empire also highlighted our geographical position as a key step in world trade.

At that time the city was surrounded by walls. One left and one entered through the Puerta de Tierra, near the Arrabal de Santa Ana and through the Puerta de Mar with steps that led to the anchorages of boats around the current Seafood Market. There were several shutters, small openings in the walls for emergencies.

The walls were a main factor at the time. Inside were the churches and religious orders, the fortress of Las Bóvedas with its soldiers, the Spanish government officials, the white and Creole merchants, and the Town Hall with its Cabildo. Panama City was an elite place.

Outside, the suburb of blacks. There were 12 blacks for every white person. This demographic proportion gave a very tense social environment. Each group had very own interests and mistrusted the others.

In the suburbs, mestizos and mulattoes struggled to integrate into commerce and society. They were muleteers and dealt with the transit of merchandise along the Real, Cruces, or Gorgona roads that left the city and connected with the ports of Portobelo or Chagres. The blacks on the route also drove the chatas, almost flat boats for and against the current of the Chagres River.

At the end of the 18th century, the city suffered raging fires that affected many families. If the decline of trade with Spain is added to this, the consequence is that many white people left the isthmus. So there was a shortage of young men to marry the ladies of San Felipe. White foreigners were very welcome.

Given the difficult commercial situation that occurred in the years prior to 1821, the merchants of San Felipe, together with partners from Peru, dedicated themselves to smuggling with English and Dutch ships that brought all kinds of products from Jamaica, Aruba and other islands. They used the trans-isthmian route and if it was heavily guarded, they transferred it to the Coclé del Norte River, crossing to Natá. With that clandestine trade without paying taxes they amassed fortunes. The goods, among others, were rice, oil, olives, clothing, utensils, rum, crockery, wine, nuts, pepper, sugar and black slaves.

Bribes to customs or military authorities were also part of the game.

At the end of the 18th century, the French revolution took place, and then the American one, events that highlighted the freedom and equality of man. These give other non-traditional examples to the American peoples.

At the beginning of the 19th century, Napoleon invades Spain, which loses strength. Then, the return to the throne of King Ferdinand VII brings more confusion to the political environment. The constitution of Cadiz is signed in 1812, which limits royal power, frees trade barriers, and enhances individual rights. But in 1814 the king does not recognize him, causing protests throughout his empire.

Those details result in the wars of independence in Venezuela, Colombia and Argentina. The man of the moment emerges: Simón Bolívar.

For those who believe that there were no combats, deaths and violence on the isthmus, in 1816 an English expedition, that of Mc Gregor, took Portobelo. Governor Hore reconquered it with serious reprisals and captured more than 300 prisoners. Many of them die in prisons. Inside and outside the city they shout: “Long live the king”.

During those years there were also bloody clashes in Natá between the smugglers and the Spanish. In the waters of the Caribbean, smuggler ships clashed with Spanish corsair ships. Remember that privateers were allowed to attack ships from other countries, just like pirates. They had to give a percentage of what was captured to the king.

A little later the ports are closed and a patriotic frigate arrives from Chile with a corsair captain Illingworth who assaults Spanish merchant ships, seizes and destroys Taboga, sinks their boats and closes the bay. Panama is attacked because it is an important royalist bastion from which troops leave against the patriots of the south. As can be seen, the war actions took place in both seas.

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Panamanian leaders Mariano Arosemena and José María Goytía brought a printing press and in January 1821 began to print the weekly publication La Miscelánea del isthmus. For the first time, Isthmus people know new ideas, and the power of the press, as a political medium.

Viceroy Sámano arrives from Santa Fe de Bogotá fleeing to Bolívar; he shuts down La Miscelánea and persecutes suspected independence fighters. He dies in the month of July in the city. A general, Juan de la Cruz Mourgeón, arrives with thousands of soldiers who ask for contributions from merchants and also loot the towns of the interior looking for support to fight against Ecuador.

Murgeón leaves for Quito and leaves 300 soldiers under the command of Panamanian Colonel José Domingo Fábrega, from Veraguas.

The merchants of the city of Panama can't take it anymore and think of independence. But the patriots in Azuero are ahead of them and on November 10 the Grito de La Villa de Los Santos is given. Natá and Ocú join them. They look with suspicion that the council of Santiago de Veraguas does not support them. In their act of independence they make it clear that they were the first.

There is a detail that separates the towns of Azuero against those of Veraguas. While the first are liberals and admirers of Bolívar, the others are conservatives, landowners and attached to the Spanish empire. They will not endorse independence until December 1.

On November 28, the town hall opens in Panama City declaring independence. Mariano Arosemena, and General Fábrega are the notable figures.

Days before the last Spanish soldiers left, bound for Havana, Cuba. The new authorities paid their back wages and convinced them that they could not fight against the entire Panamanian people.

Things get complicated because on November 30 Spanish warships arrive: the frigates Venganza and Test with more than 60 cannons between them. Fábrega speaks with his captains and manages to sign peace documents and withdraw. Once again, the ability of Panamanians to negotiate prevails over the events of war.

Once independent, the patriots decide to join Colombia. A phrase from Blas Arosemena remains: "They have used caution and diplomacy to excuse the bloodshed."

In the first days of February, the aide-de-camp from Bolívar, Daniel O. Leary, arrives with a letter in which he congratulates the Panamanians, and recognizes Fábrega as governor of Panama. English is a friend of the Liberator. At only 17 years old, he fights in the plains of Venezuela, crosses the Andes, and wins in Boyacá. He will accompany him to his deathbed and write the Liberator's memoirs.

After all that, the era of the Colombian Panama begins.

Prepared with information from "The Chilean War Corvette Rosa de los Andes" Alexander Tavra Checura, published in Chilean Navy Magazine, May 2010.

The muleteer and land transport in the southern cone. by Pablo Lacoste, Illustrious Panamanians by Jorge Conte Porras, The Population of the Isthmus of Panama by Omar Jaén Suárez, The Imagined City, the Casco Viejo of Panama by Alfredo Castillero Calvo and The Independence of Panama from Spain by Celestino Araúz and Patricia Pizzurno.